The Dangers of Magic
by Sirius-Black8
Summary: Lily's been missing for a while and she's far from home. Suddenly she doesn't know right from wrong, black from white, and everything in-between. Lily needs help, and fast. How long does it take to hit bottom when you're falling nonstop?
1. Caffeinated Coffee Isn’t Always Cool

**Chapter 1: **

It was a bright yet cold day, as crisp and newly ironed laundry, some might say. It was also quite cloudy, but the sun shone weakly through the thick a luminous clouds, and the cheery yellow sun hadn't shown up for ages. It seemed like today would be different.

And Christmas was at hand, and Diagon Alley wreaked of it. Of course, it was a nice wreak, if wreaks could be nice. Every shop was busy pushing away old Thanksgiving displays and showing new and expensive yet desirable items that are a Must-Have for the whole family. Elves were paid big money to dress up like the stereotypical fairy tale elves and sing Christmas carols in fake, high, twittering voices. Every candy shop offered new kinds of Candy Canes, Chocolates,  and new flavors of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans. Peppermint, Mistletoe (Hold over your lover's head and kiss!) Candy Cane, and every other Christmas Flavour. And then there was the drawback, almost every single person decided to come right there and then and do their Christmas shopping, which was quite unfortunate to some. Or maybe it was just their fault they didn't show up sooner. Who knew, it was a time to merry and happy and jolly, and a time to give, and all sorts (even a rather chubby man with a huge white beard) were turning up in the Leaky Cauldron.

 Lily Evans was a bright and cheery nineteen year old. Bright and cheery, that was, until the time to shop for Christmas presents came to hand. Then people meet (and watch out for) Bittersweet and Sarcastic Lily Evans. But at the moment, she seemed rather cheery, but cross her path and make her upset, she'd be sure to sprout claws and grown fangs. She could terrify most people when she felt like it, and people were sure that with Dumbledore and herself, no Death Eater or Voldemort would stand a chance, what with Dumbledore's magic and Lily's rather sharp tongue which launched insults that would wound very deeply. Yes sir, don't cross her path, her flame James Potter and friends Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew would say. After all, who else to asked but her human punching bag. And Lily was the only person who could even possibly make James and Sirius behave. That should show you just how sharp Lily could be. She also had strange green eyes that could harden or soften anything. It often gave any one chills to look her in the eye. At the moment she was counting off the people whom she decided needed presents.

Obviously one for James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter. All the Professors, except maybe Sulton, (The Ravenclaw Herbology teacher and Lily just didn't seem to get along. It was Sharp tongue versus Sharp Tongue in the battle of wits. Except Sulton had that advantage of being able to take away points… Gryffindor wasn't too happy with Lily.) my parents, my friends, that's four and  eight and two and two, which is… Damnit. twelve and four… sixteen! All right then, sixteen presents it is.

And while absorbed in her mathematical thoughts (Ah, how nice a calculator would have been!), she didn't notice the rather tall and dark haired man walk up behind her and tap her on the shoulder. After she jumped violently for a moment, she turned to face him.

He was tall, no doubt, with brilliant green-grey eyes. Lily didn't like the look of him, he could have been handsome if it hadn't been for that peculiar aura around him. he was rather, creepy. the only way to describe him. Very dark brown hair, sort of squarish face. Reminded her a bit of someone, but she didn't know who.

"I saw you come in," he said with a pleasantly creepy smile.

Okay, I knew I needed stocking stuffers, some stuffed animals wouldn't do amiss, and neither would socks… But I don't recall 'Stalker' being on the list…

"Right," she replied dubiously. She didn't know how to handle Stalkers, really. No one had ever stalked her before. At least, not that she couldn't remember.

"Don't you remember me?" he asked looking somewhat hopeful.

Lily blanched. "Hmm?" she asked nervously. Her brain did not like it when they couldn't place a face. Oh no, it did not.

"It's me! Oh, it's so good to see you again! It's been a while since Hogwarts, hasn't it?!" he asked in an even more excited voice, he could hardly contain.

Hogwarts? She thought weakly. Oh shit.

"O-oh," Lily turned on a rather nervous version of her confident smile which had never been used before. "H-how are you?"

"I'm great! And you?" he asked giving her a look over.

"I'm, just, great. Absolutely fine!' she added with pretense enthusiasm. She thought she might as well match his.

"Well, how about a drink?" he asked her smiling.

"Eh," she asked nervous again.

"How'd you like to, you know, catch up?" the man gave her another strange look.

"Oh, um, I should, uh"

"Please? It would be so much fun!" Again, with the bouncy charisma which was grating on Lily's nerves. Damn all bouncy and happy men who claimed they knew you!

"Oh, er, well, um, Fine. Where shall we go?" she asked tiredly, finally giving in. She'd tell James about the mysterious man who claimed to know her from Hogwarts. Maybe he knew.

"Oh, I know a great place down the street! They sell Orange Mocha Frappuccinos!" He winked at her.

Lily was beginning to dislike this man even more. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. Who the hell would drink something like Orange Mocha Frappuccinos? Not her. And definitely no one she was friends with. Except for maybe Sirius… But then again, he was delusional and he'd drink just about anything. Or eat anything for that matter. And do... oi, that brought back memories of him stripping when Gryffindor won the Quidditch cup in their last year. That was not pretty. Actually that was a lie he did have- she shook her head. Enough with the mental pictures.

"Uh, great. When do you want to go?" Lily was dreading this little meeting.

"How about now?" he asked flashing her a great white smile.

"Sure…" she trailed off as he grabbed her arm and began towing her  away to the   place where they sold Orange Mocha Frappuccinos.

It was a seemingly innocent cup of coffee. Very innocent looking that just screamed, "DRINK ME!". Literally. Some of the cups were enchanted to sing at the top of their voice, and unluckily, the strange but supposedly familiar man in front of her had one, and yet he didn't seem to mind at all. Lily was tempted to order what ever murky orange-brown gunk he'd ordered, since it seemed to calm him down from his active mood. Instead, she stuck with good old, run-of-the mill, highly caffeinated coffee. Ah, sweet coffee, come to thee. But it was rather bitter, since it had no milk. She took the first sip happily.

That may not have been the wisest thing to do. Suddenly caffeinated coffee didn't seem to agree with her as much as it did before. She felt quite woozy after the first sip. And whatever part of her she knew wasn't feeling drunk was very upset with giving in to this strange man's offer since it happened to bring her off her high horse, and scolded herself about the extra calories coffee was sure to give her. It didn't have any calcium either. Of course, it didn't do any good to have her subconscious screaming at her when she felt like she was drunk, because she did absolutely nothing to obey it. All she did was feel tipsy and drink her coffee which tasted strangely like beer and champagne mixed. And it was not a very nice taste, yet she couldn't put it down.

"So, you come here often?" he asked with another charming smile. 

"Er, no." she managed to say in a seemingly normal voice. Her brain was starting to go fuzzy. And the noise level had increased several decibels.

"Really? But then you must come to Diagon Alley often?" The man asked.

"Yes," she slurred. And in the midst of saying something, she fumbled, faltered, and then she felt her eyes becoming unfocused. That wasn't cool. The man grabbed her arm and led her firmly to the back entrance. There, he leaned her up against the wall and rummaged in his pocket for a small red ball. He placed it into her hands and watched her unconscious hands magically fold over the ball. Thereupon, he pulled out his wand and placed it over the tip of the ball and murmured, "Indivina Portsi Keyour." It was amazing how this man could suddenly look like mad scientist named Lestrange. Then it hummed, and Lily subconsciously felt that annoying feeling of a hook around her navel.

_

"Where the heck is Lily?" James asked looking at the clock. "It's been over three hours since she said she was going to come back. This isn't like her."

Sirius shrugged. "Probably picked up a better looking bloke and went to go have dinner with him or something," he said with a mischievous gleam in his bright blue eyes.

James swatted him with a spatula. "That's not funny!" he said.

"I think it is," he told James very honestly. It wasn't like James to be so worried, he never worried about anything practically his whole entire life. And only now he had been worrying about Lily constantly, as if she were a scatter brained two year old instead of his mature nineteen year old girlfriend.

"James, would you relax, please? Lily is probably running late, goodness knows how many people choose to do their Christmas shopping now." Remus called from James's living room.

"Well, she's always the one lecturing people one making an effort to come when they tell us their going to. It just seems weird that Lily wouldn't practice what she has been preaching to us all the damn time," James closed his eyes and leaned against the cupboard, which turned out to be a mistake. The spaghetti James was cooking for a surprise for Lily decided to explode right then and there and all the sauce splattered on James, the sparkling tile, and infested itself on the grout Lily insisted getting.

Sirius and Remus were heard guffawing in the living room, and Peter was chuckling along with them.

"Hey!" James protested. "That wasn't funny!"

"To you maybe!" Remus called still gasping for air.

"Shut – it- right now!" James growled flinging the spaghetti sauce covered spatula in the living room which flecked little specs of sauce on Sirius.

"Great," he said looking over himself. "I know I'm desirable, I know I'm very sexy, but I didn't know I was edible."

"Don't forget those beautiful eye! And the gorgeous hair that just demands to be played with! Oh, and that whole Pureblooded rich thing that just makes girls go weak at the knees!" Remus added sarcastically.

"Do you want him?" James gestured towards the red spotted dark haired man in the family room.

Remus eyed him critically. "To skinny, not muscely enough, messy hair is a no no, and those eyes are just creepy! And his-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence!" Sirius said indignantly. " And I am not skinny!"

"Of course you are dear. It's all right, it's not like it's a big secret," Peter said with a grin.

"You," Sirius pointed to Peter. "Shush. And as for the two of you," he turned with a wicked smile to his other two friends. 

"FOOD FIGHT!" and he majestically scooped up a handful of sauce that dropped on his knees and slid to the floor in a puddle of goopy and bumpy red stuff.

"Oh no, Lily will kill me." He said hurrying to get a towel or something to clean it up before it hardened.

James sobered immediately. "I'll clean it up," he said with a doleful, grim look on his face.

"I just can't imagine what's taking her so long," James sighed.

"Listen, James, I'm sure she's fine wherever she is, which is probably in Diagon Alley cursing whatever people get in her way and is probably cursing at you because you are so hard to shop for," Remus gave James a pat on the back. "Don't worry, Lily can definitely take care of herself, or my name's not Remus J. Lupin."

"Then what is it?" Peter asked.

"I don't think you're making it any better, Peter." Sirius said watching James go from slightly cheery to down in the dumps.

"I hope she's okay," James started cleaning up the spilt spaghetti sauce.

-

The man who looked strangely like Lestrange watched Lily disappear slowly, and the she faded. Soon there was nothing left except shimmering air. He walked away satisfied. Mission Impossible was suddenly Mission Accomplished. He strolled away innocently whistling a catchy tune.

Lily slammed into a wall. She shook her head and was accompanied by a horrific hangover and a nasty headache to boot. Rubbing her sore back, she stumbled into the coffee bar, just as a shadow leapt to the front.

She walked into the coffee bar and was given another shock. Not only was there no coffee bar, there were no people who looked even remotely familiar. Lily shook her head fuzzily and climbed on a barstool where she had her head in her hands.

"Had too much?" the bartender asked her with a grin.

"I don't remember," she moaned. Flashing her a sympathetic yet cocky grin, he went ahead to serve man who was waiting by her.

She suddenly felt another bout of wooziness. She blinked rapidly for five minutes and then it passed. So this was the reason she never touched champagne. Well other than the time she was drugged by James. But she didn't like to talk about that. No siree.

"I'm er, going to go," she told the bartender. The bartender just gave her a look that plainly read, "Do I really care?" She hopped off the barstool and nearly collided into a man with a mug of what smelt like eggnog. Which was strange because she didn't think bars sold eggnog, but then again, maybe it was spiked.

"Oh!" she blinked. "I'm so sorry! I didn't see you."

The man laughed. It was a very pleasant laugh, very cheery.

"That's quite all right miss. I suppose I should have been watching where I was going." He gave her a roguish wink. Again, the part of Lily that didn't feel drunk was annoyed. Just how attractive was she, for all those annoying men to keep hitting on her? James had better watch out one of these days, there was sure to be a nice bloke who was better looking than James.  Maybe Sirius- And then she was rambling again.

"Say, are you all right? You look a little…" he trailed off, his dark, dark blue eyes searching for the right word.

"Sick?" Lily supplied. 

"Yeah," he agreed. "that's it."

"Yeah, I'm not feeling to good." Lily flashed him a champion smile (for someone who was drunk).

"Don't you want to sit down and rest up for a while? I'm almost positive that the bar's open all night," the man smiled.

"No, no that's really alright. I'll manage to get home just fine, trust me," she told the man confidently.

"So you're saying you come here a lot and get drunk?" he asked with his arms folded.

"Well, not really," she managed another laugh. "Just enough to get tipsy."

The man held out a hand. "Tom's the name. And what would your lovely name be?"

"Lily," she paused and decided she might as well go with the flow. If the man was hitting on her, she'd let James on him. That would wipe the smile of his choirboy face. "Evans."

"Well, Lily, would you like to sit down? I'm sure I'd feel a lot better if you sort of got better and could walk home without getting hit by a car," Tom gave her a big winning smile and gestured to a seat in the back.

"What time is it? I sort of, er, lost track of the time," Lily replied truthfully.

"I believe it's, ten p.m." Tom squinted at the clock on the mantle piece.

Ten p.m?! Lily thought frantically. Good lord! I was supposed to be back ages ago! I said I'd be back by five, five thirty at the latest! What the hell is James going to say? Oh no… I knew I should have shopped earlier! It happens every damn year!

"Yeah, all right. I'll have a seat." Lily pulled a seat up resignedly and plopped down on it. Ooh, if she ever got home, she'd never do her Christmas shopping late again. Heck, the last day of November she'd go out and buy everything.

"Are you sure nothing's bothering you? You look… depressed," Tom bent his head down and stared at her, those twin blue flames boring holes through her, as if roving through her every thought.

"I'm sure," she said with a heavy sigh. "Well, no, I'm not. But I really don't want to talk about it."

"I wasn't trying to force you too, just incase it would make you feel better," Tom patted her shoulder, but he had to bend to reach it.

"I know, sorry," she flashed him an apologetic smile.

"It's all right." He pulled a chair beside her. "Are you hungry? I don't know why bars never sell anything except alcoholic stuff. Gets rather tiring after a while. If I come here and I want dinner I have to run all over town to try and find a good place to eat. Home cooked meals are nice, but sometimes I have to get out. Have you ever felt like that?" he asked her.

Lily nodded. "Sometimes, yeah. But I usually don't go out to eat. I just stay in, draw or write or something among those lines," she flashed him a cheek grin. "I don't believe in splurging money."

"I don't either," he said.

"What, you get all those meals free?" she asked mock disbelief.

"Well, no," he admitted. "I do splurge then."

She rapped him on the head with two fingers. "You're not supposed to give in to an argument. It doesn't give me enough chance to exercise my debating," she said severely.

"Well, maybe you convinced me entirely too much," he said fluttering his eyelashes.

Lily wrinkled her nose. "Are you hitting on me?"

Tom grinned, "Do you want me to?"

"Too dark hair, eyes look purple, not nearly with enough muscle, choirboy face… I'd have to say pass." Lily studied him carefully.

"Hey now!" Tom protested. "I'm not that bad, am I?"

"You don't want to know the answer," Lily turned on her cheeky grin full blast. "You know what? I am hungry. What's the best place to eat around here? Then I'll probably find my way home," Lily was groaning inwardly about the long trek back home, from wherever she was. It would seem kind of stupid to ask where Godric's Hollow was, because she doubted a Muggle would know. Still, he was an awfully nice Muggle.

"Find your way home? It's like you zapped yourself here and you don't know where you are," Tom said with a concerned grin.

Little did he know how close he was to the truth, Lily thought dryly. She still didn't know how she ended up here, but she was going to find Godric's Hollow if it killed her. Not that James or anyone would actually like that. Come to think of it, Lily wouldn't either, but it opened up numerous possibilities for revenge on Petunia.

"That's nonsense," she laughed it off.. What if I'm miles away from Godric's Hollow? I can't be in another continent, Tom's British. What if I'm in Epsom and I didn't know it? James, help me… Lily fretted.

"Well, I mean If you need a place to stay, I could always lend out a spare guest room," Tom looked at her. "For as long as you need it. Because, honestly now, do you have any money for a hotel?" 

"Well, no," she admitted, "I don't have money for a hotel."

"What, were you planning on spending the whole night on the streets?" he asked severely.

"No," she admitted again. "I didn't really have a plan."

"Well now you do," he said briskly. "You're staying the night at my place at the very least. Not till you find a way to go back home."

A forceful gentleman. I never thought I would have seen the day… Lily thought as she followed Tom out the door.

It was a brisk, cold, dark night. It had rained some time during the evening. Tom had taken such long strides that she had to almost run to keep up with him. He was also very tall. Around the same height as James, she would say. And that was quite tall. She herself wasn't very short, about a head shorter than James. 

"If you do need clothes, my maid will be sent out to get some," he said over his shoulder.

"Oh that's extraordinarily kind of you, Tom. There is no need, I'll just use these," she made a gesture to the rather crumpled clothes she was wearing.

"No, I insist," he laughed.

As they kept walking, Lily glanced at a newspaper flying by,

**The ****London**** Express**

**December 1947**


	2. Where There Be Some Confusion, Among Oth...

Disclaimer: This is not mine, this is JK Rowling's, and she's the lucky stiff who owns all these wonderful characters.

Author's Note: Hello, All, I bring a new chapter!!!! Thanks to the people who reviewed, (at the bottom,) as always! The story is coming along with some difficulties, I'll try my best to fix it quickly so I can update quickly as well. This is my un-betaed copy because my betas haven't replied back yet! Heh. And Please review, and let me know what to fix or add, or just comment on the story, you know I live on them!

**Chapter 2: Where There Be Some Confusion, Among Other Things**

 He was busy concocting new and improved chaotic ways to make trouble for the ministry. After all, he made headlines, no? He was a mad man. But of course, he didn't project that image at all. He changed appearances at the snap of a finger.  What was the story behind him though, that made him become such a mad man? He was after all, something of a normal man, wasn't he? Something of a normal man…

He had a normal childhood. He had love from his parents, he loved him parents, his first love, everything about him was normal. Other than the fact that he was a wizard, of course. He got his letter from Hogwarts and was so happy.  Any normal wizard would have been overjoyed. To go to the finest wizard school in all of Britain was indeed an honor. Such an honor… He remembered waving frantically from the compartment of the scarlet Hogwarts trains. The puffs of fluffy white smoke, that exciting train smell. It was all wonderful.

He remembered,

"And just what house are you in?" a rather pale boy with brown hair and an oval face asked him scornfully. "I suppose you're a Gryffindor are you? We don't like Gryffindors. To high and mighty and above the rest of us, see?"

"I'm a first year," he said rather boldly.

"A first year?" The boy mused at the other two boys behind him.

"That's right," He held his chin high.

"Good Hufflepuff material, isn't he? Thinks he's got brains, but he hasn't. Thinks he's got some Quidditch talent, but oh my no. Supposes he will have friends who think him marvelous, but it's just because they're too thick to say anything else," the boy shook his head disdainfully.

"Oh and what house would you be in?" He answered disdainfully.

"Only the best house in the whole school," he grinned nastily. "Slytherin."

"I've heard about that house," He said.

"And I suppose you heard it from the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs even the lowly Ravenclaws? Telling you there was never a wizard or witch in Slytherin who never went bad? Well, I'll tell you this, little boy," he turned back and grinned to the two boys behind him. "They say that because they're jealous of our lot. They envy our brains and cunning, see? They think that if they trash us to lowly first years to you, you'll do anything to not become a Slytherin. Oh, but they're wrong. It's glorious being a Slytherin, you just wait kid, once you get sorted into Hufflepuff, I guarantee that you'll be **dying to be in Slytherin."**

And the boy turned and left, leaving a rather frightened boy behind.

Wicked boys. Wicked, wicked boys. Yet they left an everlasting impression on that first year boy. As did something else, another thing at Hogwarts…

"I know your mother," said a little humming voice in his ear. "I knew your father too, such loyal people you never found. What became of your father, young man?"

"Gone," answered the little boy. "Mum and I don't care much for him. Died."

"Yes," murmured the voice sympathetically. "I could see that in his head,"

"In his head?" the little boy said incredulously. "How in the world can you see death in someone's  **head?"**

"You can't, but I can," the voice answered smugly.

"I see, now tell me what house I should be in," he commanded the hat.

"Well, I'm taking my time, see, because time slows down tremendously when you put me on your head, time could freeze for a moment, I dare say. What seems like five minutes here could be merely five seconds without me. It allows me time to probe through your mind and scope out your real talents." The hat replied smartly.

"So what do you see?" he asked it nervously.

"I see a great mind, full of cleverness," the hat paused. "Thirst to learn exciting, new things, and some cunning, and talent."

"Talent?" echoed the boy. "Talent for what?"

"Everything," answered the hat simply. "But specifically, what you dream of being good at. You have a rare gift, my dear boy, being good at what you dream for. You have a great dream to one day be a famous potionist, I see it right here. And you can make that dream true, my dear lad, because you're determined to be good at Potions. I dare say that anything you wanted to do, you could, be it fly without a broom, or creating new and exciting enchantments and charms, and even do things no one has dreamed of before. You have, dear boy, great talent. My advice to you would be to never ever throw it away. Never misuse it," the hat said wisely.

"My house?" The boy asked coldly.

"Impatient young dolt," The Sorting Hat snapped, which was very rare, for a hat. "Ravenclaw. You do have a great mind, where Ravenclaw can help you. Help them in return, and remember what I said, for it will help you greatly one day, or it will turn you into something very, very fearsome. So be it RAVENCLAW," the hat shouted after what seemed like an eternity to the small lad, but merely five seconds to the waiting crowd.

Ravenclaws had indeed welcomed him to the fold. He'd remembered what the wise Sorting Hat said, but whether or not he followed it, it was never known to anyone but him.

To no one but him…

* * *

"James!" Remus hissed. "James, wake up!"

James fidgeted for a moment then bolted up. "Is she back?!"

Remus shook his head worriedly. "That's why I woke you up. Oh and you're sleeping on the spatula." He pointed to the imprint on James's cheek. It was actually pretty sore when James ran a hand over it.

"Oh lord… what time is it anyway?" he asked rubbing his sore cheek.

"It's precisely 6 a.m in the morning and Lily is still not back," Sirius said gravely from the entrance to the kitchen.

"You spent the night?" James asked warily.

"Well, Remus and I did. Peter was called away on business. He promised he'd drop in just as soon as he finished." Remus replied.

"Oh no," James moaned. "Where is she? Where could she have gone? What's happened to her?"

"I don't know, I suggest if she's not back tonight, we call authorities," Remus suggested.

"By tonight? By tonight?! She could be dead by tonight because we didn't help her!" James yelped angrily.

"James, calm down," Sirius said sharply. "We know Lily's missing, she could be hurt very badly, but you have to keep your head about this. It does no one no good to go crazy about something. We haven't been down to check the stores, we haven't done anything to look for her except sit here and worry. I'd worry if she wasn't home by tonight, or even tomorrow morning. It's extraordinarily possible that something came up, like there was a blizzard so bad that people in Diagon Alley were trapped,"

"Sirius… there was no snow last night…" James said slowly. "No rain, either. It snowed lightly in the morning, but that was it,"

"And she doesn't have her apparition license either," Remus frowned.

"Making me feel a lot better, thanks," James said miserably.

"James, hold on a moment, I'm going to look for something, Sirius, come help me," Remus dragged Sirius from the kitchen leaving a miserable James sprawled on the table.

"Sirius, you know as well as I do that Lily is in danger, or unable to come home of her free will." Remus said in a stern tone.

"I know," Sirius said heavily. "I know."

"She'd have tried to contact us in someway if she knew she wouldn't be able to make it home all right. This worries me tremendously," Remus gave a puzzled glance in the direction of the kitchen. "And if we don't hear news soon, James is likely to bust."

Sirius shook his head despairingly. "There is nothing we can do, Remus. We've no idea where she went, absolutely none…"

"Yeah, well, we need to search for her, it'll make James feel a little better if he had something to do to know that he was helping look for Lily,"

"I say we talk to Dumbledore," Sirius volunteered.  
Remus shot him a glance, "You don't think, Vo-"

"No, no," Sirius said quickly. "Couldn't be, she'd kill him were her insults alone. She's a strong girl and can take care of herself. Something serious must have happened. I've seen her make mugs and thieves cry like babies with a few of her mild insults. Any Death Eater who dares to cross her path and make her mad would have to buy a pair of strong ear muffs." Sirius smiled grimly at the thought of his sarcastic red-headed friend.

"You're sure then?" Remus still looked worried. "That would put James over the top…"

"I'm positive, can't be him. Still, Dumbledore ought to know…" Sirius said.

"Can't," Remus answered in dismay. "He's in Azkaban, sorting out something the minister messed up on, you know owls aren't allowed in Azkaban, or near the premises, they'd die immediately, what with all those horrible dementors."

Sirius's somewhat cheery face fell completely.

"Unowlable…" Sirius said in horror. "Remus, for how long?"

He shrugged. "I've no idea, two weeks at the minimum,"

"Remus…without Dumbledore, we're gone. He's the only one who can figure out these things," Sirius said weakly.

Remus nodded. "I know. Things are looking down hill from here… if we wait two weeks, Lily could be dead… or worse."

* * *

"Lily?" Tom asked interrupting her thoughts. "Lily?"

"Huh?" she snapped out of her rather frightened daze and turned her large green eyes on Tom who was his towering, a head taller, concerned self. 

"Are you all right? You had a rather, frightened look in your eyes," he looked at her. "Are you sure you're all right?"

"Fine," she said, a wave accompanying her words. "Absolutely fine."

_I'm lost in time, _she thought frantically. _I'm lost in time, and no one knows where I am. I with a Muggle in the 1940's, I'm all alone. I'm not only miles away from James, I'm decades as well. I'm decades away from James, and anyone else that can help me, for that matter. Decades away from anyone that can help me…_

"as I was saying, if you need anything, feel free to send one of the maids out to fetch it," Tom said over his shoulder as they were walking down the wet, dimly lit street of a 1946 London. Lily was amazed she didn't see it at first, what with all the different hair styles, and clothing. Tom himself was something of a 1946 marvel. 

When she heard maids, her head went dizzy. _Maids? As in plural? As in more than one? Who the hell is that rich anymore? Come to think of it, who's a gentleman anymore? It's more of a pick, grab, then run. Maids? _Her head swirled with these thoughts as she went along the street, following Tom like she was a little child. Technically she would be. She wouldn't even be born. And she highly doubted her parents were anything more than teenagers. About Tom's age, she supposed. Tom looked as if he would be either fresh out of high school or college. About twenty, maybe even twenty-two. He was very handsome, she wouldn't deny it. But then again she thought Remus and Sirius were good looking as well, so who was to take her advice?

"we're about, I'd say three blocks from my house," he said after about five minutes of silence.

"Three blocks? So basically five to ten more minutes of this walking?" she asked, tentatively skipping over the zillionth puddle she unfortunately always happened to step in.

He laughed. This one wasn't as cheery as the other ones, and had a little lack of mirth. As if he found her amusing. Then again most people did. It was either that, or people would go crying to their mums. She really didn't care which they did. She was always that kind of girl, Lily supposed. She never cared what anyone really did think. She enjoyed unofficially challenging people to matching wits, and she always came soaring on top. She called herself a natural. And most people called her a smart-ass, but it wasn't like it was her fault. Blame her always ready with an insult wit. Because she really was. Anyone insulted one of her friends (Yes, even Sirius and Remus and Peter) she was there, ready with her barbed insults and sent everyone running.

Very handy trick when she was around someone she didn't like. Except she was likeable. It was extremely hard to not like Lily, since she could be bright and cheery when she wanted, and if a lot of people found her insults funny, unless they were aimed at them and were more than mild. It took a lot to work Lily up into a real temper. She sulked, she glared, but she only got into a real temper a few times a year. It took even more to really worry her. And this time travel business just about tipped her off that today wasn't her day.

"And, as you can see, we're approaching," Tom said, and Lily was sure he was winking.

And they were indeed approaching, approaching an abnormally big house. It was more of an expensive mansion then it was a house.

He looked at her from the corner of his purple-blue eyes. She was plainly speechless with awe and astonishment. Her eyes were wide, her mouth was in a small 'O' and she was frozen.

_What a beautiful house, _she felt like exclaiming. _And in 1947, it's bound to cost maybe a little more than James's house! James's house looks like a shack compared to this Victorian beauty!_

"Do you like my home?" Tom asked with a small sarcastic smile spreading on his handsome face.

"Like it?" breathed Lily. "it's beautiful!"

All of her previous worries were forgotten, this was a stunning house.

"After you," Tom said as he did a mock bow, gesturing to the open door.

The inside was much more beautiful and elegant then the outside. A delicate crystal chandelier hung magically from the ceiling, looking a bit like an enlarged crystal crown. It had small dangling ovals which were giving off light, and it was hung by a silver cord.

The walls were a very slight cream color, the carper was a rich green. The polished oak stairs also had carpeting running up them, and the stairway was shining in the light. And the maids and butlers there were! The place was very efficiently run, and Lily could see Tom was not one for a household that slacked. It was very clean.

"Here, come this way, if you're hungry the maid can fix you up something," Tom waved a hand to the open archway.

"Oh, uh, I'm not hungry any more, thanks," Lily didn't feel hungry at all. Momentary lapse of hunger, she supposed.

"Well, is there anything you'd like to do?" he asked.

"Well, if I may, is it all right with you if I freshen up a bit? Slogging through puddles and muck may be fun for you, but it sure as hell doesn't agree with me," she pointed to her wet flats she was wearing and pointed to the bottom inch of her plum colored skirt (Which, she noted with distaste, was exactly the kind of clothing women wore around here) which was soaked.

His eyes twinkled in an odd sort of way and he pointed to the stairs. "Just walk up and take a left in the hallway, there is a third door on the left side of the hallway, you can freshen up there,"

"Thanks," she turned briskly to go up the stairs.

* * *

"Dead… Or worse.." Remus's voice echoed.

Sirius shuddered. If Lily died, things would be only too horrible. James, he'd be distraught. He'd kill himself as well, Sirius surmised. Even though they had only been dating sometime, James loved her more deeply and affectionately than he had ever loved someone else.  Sirius and Remus had a brotherly bond with her, they warded off offending boys and enjoyed joining her in teasing the pesky girls that were in their year. They'd miss Lily dearly, and if they both were gone, well Sirius didn't really want to think of that, and his throat constricted at the thought.

"Guys?" James called shakily. "Remus, Sirius, are you still here?"

"We're here, James," Sirius called after a long look at Remus.

"Did you find what you were looking for, Remus?" 

"Yeah," Remus shrugged after Sirius, who began to walk into the kitchen.

James's grey eyes were suspiciously bright. Like he had tears in them.

"Well, what do we do now, boys?" he asked in a dull tone that had pretense enthusiasm.

Remus and Sirius exchanged troubled glances. "James," Remus began cautiously.

"Hmm?" James fiddled with his thumbs.

"Are you crying?" Remus asked bravely.

"No," James said in a scornful tone that would've (would've, mind you) passed if it hadn't been for the pearly, clear drop that fell from his soft grey eyes.

"well maybe a bit," he admitted unwillingly.

Silence.

Sirius and Remus exchanged disbelieving glances and looked at James disbelievingly.

"A more than a bit," he said sulkily.

More silence, exchanging looks and deepening disbelieving glances.

"Fine, a hell of a lot, but I have a bloody good reason too!" James snapped. He looked remorseful immediately.

"Sorry," he said quickly. "I didn't mean to do that, I swear. I'm just, well, sort of," he trailed of desperately searching for the word.

"Worried?" Remus offered.

"Pre-occupied?" Sirius supplied.

"Both, I guess," James shrugged.

"We know," Remus said gently. "we understand, James. We're awfully worried too."

"I just don't know what could be wrong," James said his shoulders shuddering.

"Don't worry, we'll find her, if we have to bring in Muggle SWAT teams and occupy the entire ministry to do so," Sirius said consolingly.

"Muggle SWAT teams?" James exchanged dubious looks with Remus.

"I swear to god, we have to watch him more often, he's watching too much TV," Remus said irritably. 

"Do not," Sirius faked hurt, like he had so many times with Lily.

His throat tightened again,

With Lily, everything was fine. Everything was laughing. Everything was happy.

And now…

Sirius wasn't sure. He didn't think he'd ever be sure.

* * *

Lily made her way to the bathroom, and she never once ceased admiring the taste Tom had. Everything was polished till it sparkled and shined, the carpet was a rich green, and there seemed to be a bit of silver, too. 

As she crossed the grand hallway, she found the door. Lily marveled at how beautiful a simple bathroom could be.

It was a simple, yet elegant, in deep red and silver. It was massive as well.

She turned on the tap and scrubbed her face. The remains of her hang over managed to somewhat disappear and she felt her buzzing headache subside and her thoughts become clearer.  She almost thought it was a shame to use the soft, red towel.

Lily felt refreshed, and well enough to realize the strangeness of this situation. Here she was, in the middle of London, in 1946, and she had no idea how to even get out. She didn't know who to contact, having no magical connections whatsoever. Lily put her head in her hands and sighed with frustration. It echoed in her mind like some threatening curse word; 1946, 1946, 1946…

"Lily?" There was a knock at the door, which made Lily jump violently.

"Yes?" Lily called after a moment.

"Are you all right?"

"Fine, I'll be out in a moment." Lily checked to make sure than any of the tears creeping down her face were gone before walking out the door.

When she opened it, she found Tom leaning against the wall.

"Are you feeling fresher?" he asked.

"Yes, much. Thanks." Lily stretched.

"So, feeling hungry or tired, or something?" Tom asked her.

"You know, I think I might just turn in. I'm exhausted. It feels like a lot of strange things have happened to me in the past hours." Lily wished that she was with James.

"Allow me to show you to your room." He gave a mock bow and started in the direction of another staircase. 

"This place is absolutely gorgeous," Lily breathed as she noticed picture after picture, table after table with fragile crystal wear on it.

"Really?" Tom asked, as if he genuinely did not notice the beauty the surrounded his house.

"I find it a bit lonely, and even dull, at times."

"Dull!" she exclaimed. "Never."

"And you're quite sure about that?" he asked giving her a grin.

"Quite sure."

"Ah, here we are." Tom was leading in the direction of a hallway that was dimly lit.

He opened a white wooden door to reveal a very nice room done up in various shades of green.

"It isn't much, but it is quite comfortable," he said, after stepping down into the room.

"I love it. You must tell me the name of your decorator. I cannot you might do something like this," Lily laughed.

"Oh, you'd be surprised at the things I can do," he smiled tentatively.

"Good night, if you need anything, just ring that bell on the nightstand 'side your bed. One of the maids or butlers will attend to anything you need."

"Thank you, Tom. Thank you very much," Lily replied seriously.

"Do not thank me just yet," He gave her another tentative smile. "Don't thank me just yet."

* * *

A man leaned heavily against a wall, his back tired. Reformation camp his foot. The only reason they were here was because the ministry decided that they need extra hands to do the labor work the Ministry workers were too scared to do. Just what they needed, mud kicked on their shoes. He may not have been old, but his back acted like it. How many years had it been since he had been put in here? Four? Five? Try nine or ten. His sentence had been increased by five years before they would let him go. And what for? Why couldn't they just leave him alone in Azkaban? Did anyone try to bail him out of Reformation Camp? One person. A very dear person who had been extremely distressed to see him go into Azkaban. But what could he do? Nothing. 

All because I did something I never should have done. All because I got caught doing it. But I don't care. Some marks never go away, that is you never let them, he thought bitterly.

One glance out of the window told him that soon the call for supper would sound. The pale moon gave a weak light into the dark chamber. A few more thuds would do it, if he could lift the club a few more times as well.

"Lazy arses, those sleazy Ministry workers!" he mumbled to himself. "Idiotic and stupid. Can't they just use wands to make bricks instead of breaking the backs of old men?"

"Quiet!" a Guard ordered thumping on the door's bars with a stick. "Get to work!"

"I am getting to work. I've been to work for the past years. I've been doing this for the pasty ten years. Have I gotten anything for the hard work I've done? No. I bet this very cell was built using the blocks that poor people like me have hit!" 

The Guard at the door sighed. He often did this. He didn't go mad in Azkaban. He went mad here, as if he had just realized he'd spent three years in Azkaban. He had his outbursts at times, other than that he was sane. Even gentle sometimes, and certainly kind. It was hard to believe what he had been. The Ministry was even willing to let him go free, but the council had put their foot down.

"Listen to me ramble on like this," he said, his mood switching increasingly fast. "Look at what's happened to me." He turned to the bars and the Guard saw the pain this man had suffered through, his eyes feebly roving for a familiar face. "Would you believe," he paused leaning against the wall. "That when I was a lad in school, I won an Award of Service three times? I was Headboy, and had three prefect titles to my name."

"I, I didn't know that, sir," The Guard said, startled.

"Oh yes… I spoke five different languages… was doing well in Transfiguration, had good marks in Potions…."

"Did you, sir?" The Guard felt awed by what he had found out. This man had never, in the years he had been, spoken to anyone but himself. And the Guard being a mere boy, was quite awed by what this man had accomplished.

"I did. I did a lot of stuff., most of it, I regret now," his eyes closed shut for a few moments.

"Sir?" The Guard began tentatively. "There's a Remus Lupin here to see you, Sir."

* * *

Thanks-

Scarlett*eyes- Thanks, I'm glad my summary didn't disappoint! Hope you're still with me on this story!

Hpfactor- good Stuff? Mine?!? Wowwers.

Voldemortsillegitimatechild- Your handle scares me… *grin* just kiddin ya there. Thanks, I hope this wasn't too late that you lost interest!

Hpdigigal- I feel so sorry for poor Lily, don't you? She's so frazzled. 


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